Hot on the heels of airline industry rival WestJet, Air Canada has released its own holiday video that aims to tug at viewers’ heartstrings.

Air Canada’s “Gift of Home for the Holidays” video, posted on YouTube Wednesday, shows two uniformed pilots walking into the Maple Leaf pub in London, England -- a popular hangout for Canadian expats to drink beer, eat poutine, and watch a hockey game.

As the two aviators mingle with pub-goers, asking them what they miss about Canada, they hear many homesick patrons lamenting that they won’t make it home to Canada for the holidays.

"Just couldn't budget it," one man said.

"It's really sad that I'm here," another woman said.

Sending Canadians home

Then, the pilots command the bar’s attention for an announcement: “Because we are in the holiday season, I’d like to take this occasion to offer everybody here, present this evening, a round,” one pilot says.

The crowd cheers in anticipation of a free drink -- but what follows is pure magic.

“When we say a round, we mean round trip tickets for everyone to go back to Canada for the holiday season,” said the other pilot.

Maple Leaf patrons react with a mix of cheers, stunned silence, and tears.

“My husband’s sister is pregnant so we’ll get to see her,” said one woman.

The celebration ends with a few happy phone calls home and, in patriotic fashion, a rendition of O Canada.

The video had nearly 300,000 views on YouTube by Thursday afternoon.

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Air Canada's 'Gift of Home' video comes just days after WestJet unveiled its latest Christmas Miracle in which it fulfilled the wishes of villagers in the Dominican Republic.

WestJet’s video was posted on Sunday and had about 2.2 million views by Thursday.

Air Canada invites people to monitor their Twitter site to follow the stories of the lucky Canadians being sent home for the holidays.